BASHIQ, Kurdistan Region-- Kurdish Peshmerga forces continue to advance towards the outskirts of Mosul city with some of their units only 5 kilometres away from the city centre, military commanders told Rudaw Sunday.
"We have accomplished our mission and now we are about five to six kilometres away from Mosul," said Peshmerga commander Sihad Barzani.
It is unlikely that Kurdish forces enter the city according to previous agreements with the central government in Baghdad, but one Kurdish official told Rudaw that the Peshmerga will continue until "all military objectives are achieved."
"We have not discussed with Baghdad whether Peshmerga forces would halt their advancement in Kurdish areas," said Jabar Yawar at the Ministry of Peshmerga and added that the Kurdish forces would move according to the military objectives.
Military sources also told Rudaw that the Kurdish forces based near Mosul had started constructing ditches and barriers in a bid to repel possible attacks by ISIS suicide bombers.
Sirwan Barzani, a ranking Peshmerga official said Sunday the ditches were to protect Kurdish villages from predicted terror attacks when Iraqi forces enter Mosul.
Kurdish intelligence agencies estimate the number of ISIS militants in Mosul to be between 4000 to 8000 men and anticipate fierce resistance from the terror group.
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